CHAPTER XVVJI. 13I standing in the same parts of the page. This is also a great conveniency to be observed by printers in the new editions of Grammars, Psalms, Testaments, &c. to print every chapter, paragraph or verse in the same part of the page as the former, that so it may yield an happy assistance to those young learners, who find, and even feel the advantage of a local memory. 9. Let every thing we desire to remember be fairly and distinctly written and divided into periods, with large charac- ters in the beginning, for by this means we shall the more readily imprint the matter and words on our minds, and recol- lect them with a glance, the more remarkable the writingap- pears to the eye. This sense conveys the ideas to the fancy better than any other ; and what we have seen is not so soon forgotten as what we have only heard. What Horace affirms of the mind or passions may be said also of the memory. Segnìus irritant animos demises per eurem Quam guts stint orulis subjectsfutelibus et qua Ipse sibi tradit spectator. Applied thus in English : Sounds which address the ear are lost and die In one short hour; but that which strikes the eye Lives long upon the mind; the faithful sight Engraves the knowledge with a beam of light. For the assistance of weak ,memories, the first letters or words of every period, in every page, may be written in distinct colours ; yellow, green, red, black, &c. and if you observe the tame order of colours in the following sentences, it may be still the better. This will make agreater impression, and may much aid the memory. Under this head we may take notice of the advantage which the memory gains, by having the several objects of our learn- ing drawn out into schemes and tables ; matters of mathema- tical science and natural Philosophy are not only let into the understanding, but preserved in the memory by figures and diagrams. The situation of the several parts of the earth are better learnt by one day's conversing with a map or sea-cltart, than bymere reading the description of their situation a hundred times over in books of geography. So the constellations in astronomy and their position in the heavens, are more easily re- membered by hemispheres of the stars well drawn. It is by having such sort of memorials, figures and tables hung round our studies or places of residence or resort, that our memory of these things will be greatly assisted and improved, as I have shewn at large in the twentieth chapter of the Use of the sciences. I might add here also, that once writing over what we de- sign to remember, and giving due attention to what we write, z2
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